Wellington Residents Snowed in with $20,000 Winning Ticket

﻿﻿TOPEKA - 37-year-old Wellington resident Damian Metcalf tucked
what he thought was a $100 winning $2 Bonus
Crossword ticket in the visor of his vehicle before leaving
town Monday morning. He thought he would take care of it when he
got back into town the next morning. When Metcalf did return on
Tuesday morning, he found he hadn't won $100.

"The cashier said the prize was too big, I would have to claim
it at the Lottery office. I thought, well okay, maybe I won $2,000.
I had been happy with the $100 and would be even happier with
$2,000."

Metcalf took it home and he and his wife Tasha inspected the
ticket a dozen times. Metcalf had missed a letter, and had actually
won a top prize of $20,000.

"All our kids were home for the snow day and they were so
excited. All of us were hugging and jumping up and down." Metcalf
said. Only one Metcalf family member wasn't jumping up and down -
the seven-year-old fell on the floor in disbelief.

Tasha Metcalf explained, "He kept yelling, 'We're filthy rich!'
and was going on like we had won a huge Powerball jackpot. I had to
explain to him we weren't filthy rich, but mom could buy him a new
toy."

That new toy would have to wait though. The Kansas Lottery
office was closed due a snowstorm on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Metcalfs put the ticket on the fridge and kept checking it to
make sure they hadn't missed something or weren't fooling
themselves.

Tasha noticed that one of the words was 'Lee' which is also
Damian's middle name. And the ticket number was 77, which is the
year Damian was born.

After two days of waiting and snowed-in children making and
modifying their lists of what to do with some of the winnings, the
Metcalfs were finally able to come in to claim their winnings
Wednesday morning. They plan on using some of the money to
pay off a vehicle, take a trip to see family in Minnesota (when it
warms up) and, of course, a few toys were promised.

The ticket was purchased at Jump Start 24, located at 1106 North
A Street in Wellington. There are eight $20,000 top prizes
remaining in the Bonus Crossword game.

For more information on games, promotions, winning numbers, and
unclaimed prizes, or to join the free Kansas Lottery Players Club,
visit www.kslottery.com.